Missouri Child Labor Bill Takes it on the Chin from Leno

Ha, ha, you Missouri brats! Go get a job!

​Oh, that Jay Leno. Always quick with the zing.

As we reported yesterday, state Sen. Jane Cunningham (R-West County) thinks that a more Dickensian youth would really get Missouri kids to straighten up and fly right.

She's proposed a bill (SB 222) that would eviscerate our state's child-labor laws. And she's being mocked far and wide, including on The Tonight Show.

Lazy, freeloading pre-teens would no longer be barred from seeking gainful employment (what kind of crap excuse is "school," anyway?) and wee peons would no longer need work permits from their schools. Their hours wouldn't be restricted, and places that use ankle-biters as drones would no longer face inspections from the Division of Labor Standards.

Cunningham has been defending her bill, citing the character-building effect work had on her own kids. And she's facing criticism from all sides: waggish commenters here at the Daily RFT, the AFL-CIO and other labor groups, and finally, Jay Leno.

From last night's monologue:

"And in Missouri, Republican state Sen. Jane Cunningham has introduced a bill that would eliminate her state's child labor laws. Well, yeah, I mean, why should the 10-year-olds in China be getting all the good factory jobs?"